From Royalty to World-Class Hotels: College Friends Reunite 50 Years On

 With some going on to meet royalty, and others working in world-class hotels thanks to their college course, a group of friends have reunited to celebrate 50 years since starting College. Pearl Woodhams, Helen Gray, Sarah Huxford, Anthony Lee, Julie Miles, Richard Feltham, Graham Livett, Michael Homewood and David Kelly attended Thanet Technical College in 1975, where they studied a National Diploma in Hotel and Catering Operations. At the time, Thanet Technical College was known as one of the top catering colleges in the country alongside Westminster College. It is now known as EKC Broadstairs College, which forms part of East Kent Colleges Group (EKC Group) and is still recognised for its catering and hospitality offering after producing celebrity chefs such as Gary Rhodes, who studied a Catering course at the same time as the group reuniting this month.

To mark the special occasion, the friends went to The Yarrow. This is the Group’s training hotel for learners studying catering and hospitality courses at EKC Broadstairs College. The enjoyable celebration allowed the group to remember their college days as some of the best of their lives. “I came to Thanet Tech as a 16-year-old straight from O Levels,” Alumna Sarah Huxford said. “I had never left home, and here we were in this brilliant mixed group of young people, and we had the time of our lives. We had two fantastic years, and we are still all in touch. “We all had an interest in food, but we all learnt to have a real love of proper food, proper catering, and the techniques. “We were so fantastically well taught here. Everything was perfectly taught.” Reminiscing about one of the first dishes they were tasked with cooking, Richard Feltham explained it was a cream of lentil soup. “It was almost nothing to do with making the actual soup, but about using all the utensils,” he said. “You pass it through just about every instrument in the kitchen. At the end of it, you have two beautiful bowls of soup, but you look behind you and there's mountains of washing up! The lesson is, clear up as you go.”

EKC Group Ramsgate Road, Broadstairs, CT10 1PN The group also recollected 1976, which was the hottest summer on record until this year. Graham Livett, who worked in catering for 20 years, said: “One interesting thing is in 1976 it was a heatwave summer, and this summer was the hottest it’s ever been on record. It’s a bit of a coincidence.” Richard Feltham added: “We had an end of term disco at Dreamland in Margate that year, and Heatwave were booked to perform but were late because they had just got into the top 10 and had to do Top of the Pops.”

Another standout moment for the group included catering at the launch event for Broadstairs Library, which was opened by Edward Heath, who was the Prime Minister from 1970 to 1974. Similarly, the group reminisced about a golfing tournament they catered at while at College, where they were gifted huge French cookbooks, which many of them still have today. But it wasn’t just at College where the group met some famous faces. From their cohort, many progressed into work at respected hotels that the Royal Family attended, while others served at Buckingham Palace.

Graham Livett worked at Claridge’s, which is a luxury hotel in Mayfair, London, when he was studying at Westminster following his College course, and recalled the day he served the then Prince, but now King Charles. “That was quite an experience,” he said. “I was very nervous; I was still at college and still learning, but because I had already been at Thanet Technical College, I’d done a couple of years, so I was used to it. “I can remember the meal they had was trout, and when serving it, you have to get two fish forks and scoop it underneath and put it on the plate – it was nerve-racking, but I did it.”

Anthony Lee, who is now the Club Secretary and Chief Executive of The In and Out Naval and Military Club in London, also served royalty during his career and even met Queen Elizabeth II. “I’ve been in world-class hotels for most of my life and interacting with the Palace ever since my first introduction, where I served at The Queen’s Invitation for The Diplomatic Cours of the World,” he said. “

"The Palace was really interesting. I was in the Throne Room and the doors opened – this absolutely stunning princess came in. She came straight to my table and asked for an orange juice. I got a glass and poured it, but it was a jug with a funny lip. But not one drop went into the glass. It went perfectly either side – you couldn’t write it.

“I went even redder, but she found the whole thing extremely amusing. I was mortified! “I finally poured the orange juice, and since then, I’ve been in world-class hotels and interacting with the Palace and it was because of that original introduction. “We studied so much at College in our course – we did French, law, accounts, and more – and it’s all helped us in our careers.” Sarah Huxford added: “Although we were only here for two years, we were equipped to go into different aspects of catering, and we’ve all done different things. It was fantastic.” -